1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rail guide for a suspended and guided sliding component.
2. Description of the Related Art
The sliding components guided in the aforementioned rail guide may be executed differently, for example as wood panels or glass panels, in simple or double disposition. In the extended disposition, the sliding components form a closed wail and they can be displaced by guiding them in the rail guide into a stacking area, normally in a side-by-side disposition. Generally, two carriages are assigned to each sliding component. Provided that the spaced apart carriages supporting a sliding component are guided at a single guiding rail only, one turnout is required for conveyance into a stacking area, which diverts respectively one of the spaced apart carriages towards the guiding rail leading into the stacking area. However, in the case of a rail guide being formed by two adjacent guiding rails disposed side-by-side, one of the spaced apart carriages is guided in one guiding rail and the other one is guided in the adjacent guiding rail. In this case, one of the two adjacent guiding rails forms the branch leading into the stacking area. The invention relates to this type of device.
The document DE 42 42 597 A1 discloses a device of this species. Each of two carriages for displacing a sliding component is guided by one carrying roller and one guiding roller displaceable along a single one of the first and second adjacent guiding rails. In the aforementioned known device, a branching into a stacking position is only possible by utilizing an additional expensive turnout. According to the present invention, the device of this species thus uses two guiding rails which are disposed mirror-inverted with regard to one another; however, guidance of the carriages in the adjacent guiding rails is different from the subject matter of the application in that the characteristics described in the inventive object cannot be realized with the state-of-the-art according to DE 42 42 597 A1.
The document DE 38 14 535 C2 describes a roller device for a suspended sliding wall, wherein a one-piece guiding rail has a symmetrical structure relative to a vertical central longitudinal axis of the rail's cross section. In this case, one of the two carriages assigned to one sliding component is positively guided by means of carrying rollers and guiding rollers in the right region of the guiding rail and the other one in the left region. The device allows for branching—as intended with the present invention—without involving a turnout; however, due to the required division of the guiding rail, a special section has to be provided in the branching region. The known device is particularly disadvantageous in that each carriage, in the region of the main track, is only supported either in the left region or in the right region of the guiding rail, that is to say, only half of the provided profile is used by the respective carriage.
From the document EP 0 679 788 B1 is known a drive mechanism for the suspension of a door wherein the tilting moment considered to be disadvantageous, with a lateral suspension of the door, should be avoided by centrally supporting the carrying rollers of a carriage in the guiding rail, which laterally engage with the guiding rail, the guiding rollers sitting close to the guiding rail on the exterior side thereof. In this case, two of the above described guiding rails are provided at a trunnion, which is suspended at a sub-construction, such that, in relation to a door, two spaced-apart carriages are guided in respectively one of the adjacent guiding rails. A branching is obviously not intended, and likewise could not be realized because of the trunnion that is common to the guiding rails. Moreover, the known structure requires an extraordinary construction width and increased technical expense.